1mII.
~
Rize
USA 2005, 85 min.
Director:
Production:
World Sales:
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle Studios, HSI Productions,
Darkfibre Entertainment
David LaChapelle
stud io@davidlachapelle.com
www.davidlachapelle.com
He doesn't need to say it, but one of the youngsters featured in the
South Central, Los Angeles, dance film Rize proclaims: "We're of more
value than any piece of custom jewellery, or
anybody could buy."
Fashion photographer David LaChapelle's
a spectacular Californian urban phenomenon
hip-hop to shame. 'Clowning' and 'krumping'
any car or any house
showstopper features
that puts commer.cial
are rapid-fire styles of
dance set to hip hop music that were given a name and focus - if not
created - by a man in a rainbow wig and clown face paint. After a stint
in prison for dealing drugs and the 1992 Rodney King riots, Tommy
Johnson turned his life around - and that of his neighbourhood - by
starting to hire himself out as a hip hop clown for children's parties.
Youngsters started learning Tommy the Clown's moves. First, a
hip-hop clown academy and then 50 splinter groups were formed.
Tommy became a positive mentor to many of the dancers in the ghetto.
Today, in a place where wearing the wrong colours can be fatal, dancing in clown paint is a third alternative to joining the Bloods or the
Crips gangs.
Dragon, Tight Eyez and Ms Prissy are among the characters who,
off the dance floor, offer their mixed feelings about the hood, as well
as clarity about the past and future. On the dance floor, they leave the
viewer speechless.
One of the half-dozen extended dance segments, the LA dancers are
intercut with ethnographic-looking
footage of dancers with painted
faces in Africa. The film also touches on the role of spirituality, and
notably the Pentecostal church, in the dancing. In one outdoor nighttime competition, a girl passes out in dance-triggered ecstasy. A little
boy says that that's the 'zone' they are all hoping to enter.
Connecticut-born
LA transplant LaChapelle has photographed
countless stars and created music videos for the likes of Christina
Aguilera, but doesn't show off here. Yes, the cinematography by Morgan
Susser and Michael Totten is colourful and sometimes exotically lit.
However, the shots tend to conservatively frame the dancers from head
to toe, letting the sense of place and the audience into the picture.
Shots from very different locations are confidently cut back-to-back.
The material is never sped up, but sometimes slowed down to showcase the moves.
It all builds up to a 'friendly' dance competition between Tommy's
dancers and their rivals at LA's Great Western Front. The dance-offs
in front of thousands are elating. But an act of crime that night is a
reminder of the violent forces the dancers are fighting to transcend.
Angelike Contis